East Bay Hills
East Bay Hills | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Sunol Peak[2] |
Elevation | 2,182 ft (665 m) |
Dimensions | |
Length | 36.8 mi (59.2 km) northwest-southeast from Carquinez Strait to Alameda Creek/Highway 84 |
Width | 7 mi (11 km) west-east |
Geography | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
Region | Central California |
Range coordinates | 37°48′06″N 122°09′12″W / 37.80167°N 122.15333°W[1] |
The East Bay Hills is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. They are the first range of mountains east of San Francisco Bay and stretch from the Carquinez Strait in the north to Alameda Creek/Highway 84 in the south, crossing both Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. Although not formally recognized by United States Geological Survey (USGS) Geographic Names Information System, the East Bay Hills is included as part of the Diablo Range[3] in its list of multiple GPS coordinates for the latter.
Geography and geology
[edit]The East Bay Hills runs northwest to southeast for approximately 36.8 miles (59.2 km) with its midpoint at 37° 48' 06" N, 122° 09' 12" W.[1] The tallest peak in the range is Sunol Peak whose summit elevation is 2,182 feet (665 m).[2]
The East Bay Hills consists of multiple named components, from north to south: Franklin Ridge[4], then the Briones Hills[5], the Berkeley Hills,[6] the San Leandro Hills[7] centrally, and Walpert Ridge[8] and Pleasanton Ridge[9] to the southwest and southeast, culminating at Alameda Creek/Highway 84.
Geologically, the East Bay Hills are bounded by the Calaveras Fault to the east and the Hayward Fault to the west.[10][11]
Ecology
[edit]Extensive public lands are conserved in the East Bay Hills by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) and the East Bay Regional Park District.[12] The East Bay Hills have groves of coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), making Alameda and Contra Costa Counties two of only four inland California counties to host these trees.[13] In fact, the largest coast redwood tree described currently or historically, was reported in 1893 by William P. Gibbons (1812-1897), the American naturalist, physician and founder member of the California Academy of Sciences, who measured the hollow shell of a coast redwood in the Oakland Hills with diameter of 9.9 metres (32 ft) at breast height.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed July 6, 2024
- ^ a b "Sunol Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Diablo Range". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Franklin Ridge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Briones Hills". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Berkeley Hills". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "San Leandro Hills". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Walpert Ridge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Pleasanton Ridge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ R. C. Crane (1995). "Geology of Mount Diablo Region and East Bay Hills". In E. M. Sangines; D. W. Andersen; A. B. Buising (eds.). Recent Geologic Studies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Vol. 76. Pacific Section, Society for Sedimentary Geology (S.E.P.M.). pp. 87–114. Retrieved July 3, 2024.
- ^ J. Ross Wagner; Alan Deino; Stephen W. Edwards; Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki; Elmira Wan (September 27, 2021). "Miocene stratigraphy and structure of the East Bay Hills, California". In Raymond Sullivan; Doris Sloan; Jeffrey R. Unruh; David P. Schwartz (eds.). Regional Geology of Mount Diablo, California: Its Tectonic Evolution on the North America Plate Boundary. Vol. 217. Geological Society of America. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
- ^ Lester B. Rowntree (1994). "Afforestation, Fire, and Vegetation Management in the East Bay Hills of the San Francisco Bay Area". Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers. 56. University of Hawai'i Press: 7–30. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
- ^ Sherwood D. Burgess (1951). "The Forgotten Redwoods of the East Bay". California History. 30 (1): 1–14. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
- ^ William P. Gibbons (August 1, 1893). "The Redwood in the Oakland Hills" (PDF). Erythea. 1 (8). Berkeley, California: 161–166. Retrieved August 24, 2024.